I cannot locate the thread - looked through 7 pages - where people were deciding about what the ending meant. But my opinion is different from the one that suggested this all took place in a laboratory. I also don't agree that it is all a computer generated story.

I might be wrong - frequently am - but I believe this all took place in the present but that Nigel somehow was visiting in the past to correct a problem in Saxton.

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I think that at the end Lucy was reviving him on the beach after he completed all the necessary tasks using the Hadden Industry tools - he released a lot of unhappy spirits from their haunts.

It also looks to me like another game is forthcoming with Lucy and Nigel solving the haunts of another location using the mysterious Hadden Industry tools.

Thank you Jonathan for another wonderful experience - well worth the wait! I liked the sounds when you found or completed another task too!

I've only just finished the game & couldn't wait to read through this thread! A lot of interesting ideas & theories but I'm still reeling back!. I'm curious about just one little detail of the game

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In Ulcombe Church next to where the mouse trap is, you can close in on a carved figure at the end of the pews & use something on it - the camera etc etc didn't work & I was expecting to have to go back to it & do something! I never did

I cannot locate the thread - looked through 7 pages - where people were deciding about what the ending meant. But my opinion is different from the one that suggested this all took place in a laboratory. I also don't agree that it is all a computer generated story.

Oh, please, try to remember, where the thread is. Sounds really interesting!I don't think that all took place in the labs,

Oh, how frustrating! I thought someone out there has the FINAL SOLUTION. Still playing it for the second time (it's a very long game, indeed!), and I can't figure out the whole story. Like in real life, I have the impression I miss something very fundamental.

I had already guessed it was in the past while I was playing and I wonder if that isn't why it is in black & white - or a dream-state which would also explain black & white. I have read and heard that people cannot dream in color.

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It is my opinion that he was in an induced dream-state and visited the town of Saxton. Lucy was then needed to bring him out of this dream-state. I just can't figure why he could hear the telephone, lol.

It will be interesting to hear what Jonathan had planned when he made this game. He certainly went to a lot of trouble including all those websites made just for the game. He said it would be worth the extra delay and it certainly was IMHO.

I cannot locate the thread - looked through 7 pages - where people were deciding about what the ending meant. But my opinion is different from the one that suggested this all took place in a laboratory. I also don't agree that it is all a computer generated story.

Oh, please, try to remember, where the thread is. Sounds really interesting!I don't think that all took place in the labs,

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but Mr. Hadden surely can see somehow every step Nigel takes.

Two of my posts (#304593 and #304624) on page 3 of this thread were about the story being a computer simulation. Also Ivinia's post #302308 on page 2 (which inspired mine).

I imagine that Jonathan has been following this thread and cackling away to himself - for Only He Knows the Truth.

I just finished the game tonight (finally!) and was able to read this thread. I've been dying to read it but avoided it so as not to spoil anything for myself. So as soon as I finished, I ran here to catch up and I kept thinking exactly the same thought as Rushes.

Can't remember exactly who suggested what but I had many of the same thoughts that the rest of you expressed about what exactly was going on in this game.

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It didn't occur to me that Nigel was an avatar of some sort himself, but I was thinking along the lines of him walking through a time warp when he broke into the files at Hadden and Saxton being some sort of world manipulated by Hadden. Coincidentally, I've been doing some reading on the soul's ability to exist in parallel universes and during the game I briefly wondered if Jonathan had done some similar research and maybe that was where the game was headed.

I liked the theory that...

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...the game was in black and white because Saxton was generated from old b&w photos and that's why those rips were by the two churches and the rusting/negative damage happened in the rain. I was thinking that the rips were an indication of a time shift but the rust-looking spots had me completely baffled.

I just happened to have set up a nifty new monitor this afternoon and I thought it was messing up the colors when the rust colored spots suddenly appeared. Then I thought maybe it was blood but Nigel walked through it, not over it like he would if it was a stain on the ground. I kept making Nigel walk through it, trying to figure it out and finally decided it was a mystery and to just carry on. I like the theory that it was photo negative damage due to the rain. And Jonathan has experience as a photographer, so it would make sense that he would go that route.

Since yesterday I've had a lot of thoughts but nothing seems to fit neatly. I've read with interest everyone's comments. Some more food for thought:

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Discrepancies to do with Nigels's age, date of employment have already been mentioned.

Lucy has a student card to tell us that she is 'contemporary' between 2007 & 2010 yet her train ticket shows a 2 part return ticket from Sedgefield to Sedgefield? that seems to be stamped 30.10 05? She doesn't believe in ghosts but seems to believe in looking into the past & future. Her aim seems to be looking for the lost cats but later in the game she spoke on the phone (that wasn't connected)to Hadden - who told her to pull Nigel back when the time was ready?

Hadden Industries was obviously based in London - which seemed to be where Nigel caught the train from (or thought he did), also the telephone number on the back of his identity card has an inner London code. The website in one of the printouts he stole has a website address (not likely I would have thought in the year he would have stolen it!)- if you check out the website it is a virtual present day site advertising the exact equipment that was sent to Nigel - therefore he recieved from Hadden future equipment in the past, if that makes sense! Also Hadden Industries, according to the website, is now based in Saxton Harbour!

The train station (old advert) & station master are from a much earlier period in time - I'm sure, as much as we criticise our rail service, that there were no steam trains used except for the tourist industry! Once you step onto the 'decking' over the fens you are in a nature reserve created in 1973. I think it's probably much later in time than that as the picture of the crabs, & the poisonous flower are crossed through indicatiing that they are no longer features of the reserve - but you still see the flowers in colour!!!

The newspapers found in the cave between Saxton shore & beach are in good condition, do not mention a date but you can see by the adverts & the reference to 'radio listings' that they probably precede TV days?

I'm totally baffled by most of this but one theory I thought of is that Nigel was sent 'through the chasm' to ghosthunt & exorcise the 'spirits' to prevent them being inadvertantly dragged into the present world via the chasm - as according to Mr Hare's report. The chasm seemed to be opened by the spring tides - but as reported in the newspaper they flooded a graveyard & polluted the water with rotting corpses - were these the 'entities' seen in the photos Nigel stole?

Sorry to kick up an old thread, but I saw something a bit interesting the other day. My apologies if someone already mentioned this!

I was watching movie Contact starring Jodie Foster. For those that haven't seen it, there is a mysterious man with loads of money and technology at his disposal that finances Foster's quest to find life in other galaxies. He's a very secretive character in the movie and a bit eccentric. He 'lives' on a plane so that he can always remain mobile. Very few people actually get to meet him.

What I found interesting was that his name was S.R. Hadden and he ran Hadden Industries.